Their Lives Before The Apocalypse
by fatcatwalker
Summary: We know how their lives are in the apocalypse, but how were their lives before it all went to hell.


Notes: I hope I did ok with the back stories.

Their Lives Before The Apocalypse

Rick walked through the door, plopped, on the couch and laid down, exhausted. He had

had a long day and had to stay at work a half an hour later due to a false alarm and a wild

goose chase. He had his eyes closed when Lori came storming in.

"Rick!" He practically fell off the couch and then sat up quickly.

"What is it? Is it Carl?"

"You should know," she said, with her arms crossed.

"What does that mean?"

"Really? Nothing comes to mind. Like your son needing to be picked up from school."

Rick put his hands over his face.

"I forgot. Things came up at work."

"That's it. I forgot. Things came up at work."

"What? What do you want me to say?" She laughed sarcastically.

"Unbelievable. How about I'm sorry. I'm sorry I forgot to pick up my son at school and

couldn't even take the time to call you and say things are running late at work, so can you

pick up our son, but no. Work is more important then your son."

"No, it's not and I am sorry! And how can I call you about picking him up if I already

forgot that I'm supposed to pick him up!"

"If your son were more important you would have remembered!"

"I am stressed out at work. Did you ever think of that? That's why I forgot."

"Well that's just great for Carl and for me. I'm the one who has to see his disappointed

face when you don't show up and all I can say is I'm sorry. I don't know. You rarely pick

him up, but when you do do you realize how proud he is that his dad is the Sheriff

Deputy? When you show up in your Sheriff car and everyone can see who his father is.

He doesn't want me to see him cry, so he goes straight upstairs. I call after him, but he

tells me to leave him alone."

"I'm going to talk to him."

"Yeah. You go do that," she said, shaking her head. He ran upstairs. He heard him crying

as he approached the door. He couldn't help but get a little emotional knowing that he

was the one that hurt him and made him cry. He took a deep breath and knocked on the

door.

"Carl? Can I come in?" He didn't reply because he wanted to wipe his eyes before he

came in.

Rick came in and he lay down on his side next to Carl on the bed. Carl was on his side

too with his back to Rick. He put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry son. It was a

stressful day at work." He didn't say anything, so Rick started tickling him.

"Stop dad stop!" He said laughing. Rick laughed too.

"Ok son. Now talk to me." Carl was on his side, facing Rick now.

"I wish you could pick me up from school more often."

"I'm so sorry son, but you know I can't because I leave work so late. I know I had a short

day and I was supposed to pick you up today, but something came up and I completely

forgot."

"It's ok dad. It's just that I told my friends that my dad was going to pick me up today in

his Sheriff car and we were going to meet up after school, but you never showed up. It

was so embarrassing. They all waited until their parent's came and then I was left alone.

Then I had to go to the office so I can call mom." Carl had a tear streaming down his face

and Rick wiped it away.

"Don't worry Carl. I'll do better."

"You promise?"

"I promise." They hugged. "What do you say we order pizza?"

"Alright!" He ruffled his hair.

"Do you have any homework?"

"Yeah."

"Work on that and I'll be back to see if you need any help."

"Thanks dad." Rick smiled and then saw Lori outside the door. They went down stairs.

"That's great Rick. You haven't done enough, so now you're making him broken

promises." Rick walked toward the door. "Yeah. Of course. Walk out the door instead of

talking about it." Rick stopped with his hand on the door knob.

"What Lori? I don't know what to do or say to please you anymore. I can't predict when

things are going to go wrong at work."

"This is a good reason not to make promises to our son. Will you keep this one?" He

didn't say anything.

"Just go Rick. I'm sure you have better things to do then stay home with

your son."

"I told him I would be back to check on him, so I will be," he said closing the door

behind him.

Daryl came home to his father passed out on the couch and lying on his back with

one arm hanging off the couch and a bottle of vodka in his hand. Daryl was concerned, so

he walked over to make sure he was just sleeping. He grabbed his dad by the shoulders

and gently shook him.

"Dad?" He immediately shot up, swung the hand with the vodka bottle at Daryl, and hit

him in the face with the bottle.

He lost his balance, falling backwards onto the glass coffee

table, breaking it.

"What are you doing boy! Don't you know how to walk! Clean up this mess!"

"Yes da… I mean sir." He slowly sat up and started picking up the glass, cutting his

hands in the process.

He had shards of glass all over him from falling including his face. He

knew his cheek was probably broken from the vodka bottle and maybe a fractured arm

from the fall, but it would have to wait for now because he knew his father would give

him a good whipping if he didn't clean up first before attempting to drive himself to the

hospital with shards of glass all over him and a fractured arm not to mention his most

likely broken cheek that was so swollen it was blocking his vision. He knew his father

didn't care, so he wouldn't bother asking for a ride and besides he was drunk and his

father would never let him call an ambulance because we can't afford it and Merle left

home.

"Hurry up boy! I'm hungry and I can't go to the kitchen until you're done cleaning

up your mess!"

"Yes sir." Daryl cried out when he got a sharp pain in his arm.

"Stop whining and grow a spine!" Daryl was now on the verge of tears, but didn't want to

cry in front of his dad. He kept his head down and finished in a half an hour. He slowly

got up and limped toward the front door. "Where do you think your going!"

"To the hospital. I need a doctor."

"Fine, but only if you come back with a bottle of vodka to replace the one that you broke."

"Whatever you want sir."

"Hurry back." As soon as he got in the car he let it all out and started crying. Everything

hurt physically and emotionally. Carol was washing the dishes after dinner and Sophia

would help her by putting them in the rack, while Ed would sit on the couch and watch

TV. Sophia grabbed a dish from Carol and it slipped out of her hands and shattered on the

floor. Ed got off the couch and ran toward Sophia.

"No Ed! Don't! It was my fault!" Ed slapped Carol across the face and she fell on the

ground. Ed grabbed Sophia's arm.

"Ow Dad! You're hurting me!" He pushed her onto the ground and she fell in front of the

broken mess.

"Clean this shit up girl!"

"Yes dad." Carol crawled to Sophia to help her, but Ed grabbed her arm and pulled her

up, dislocating her arm. She yelled out in pain.

"This better be cleaned up before I come back downstairs!" He dragged Carol upstairs by

her dislocated arm and she was screaming all the way up while Ed unbuckled his belt on

the way up. Abraham and his wife Ellen and kids Aj and Becca were sitting on the couch

watching a movie. His P.T.S.D was worse then usual, so he spent most of the time in his

head, but tried to hide it. Abraham heard gun shots.

"Get down!" He wrapped his arms around them and pulled them to the ground and

covered them.

It stopped temporarily. "You need to take cover with the kids behind the couch. I'll

make sure there are no intruders in the house." He started to get up, but she grabbed him

by the arm.

"Honey it's ok. It's …" It started up again.

"Don't worry! It will be ok! Stay here and you'll be safe!" He carefully made his way up

the stairs, keeping an eye out for anyone that might be hiding around the corner. He

grabbed the rifle he kept between the mattresses. He went back downstairs and checked

on his family.

"Abraham please listen to me!" All of a sudden it sounded like rapid fire. As if there were

more guns shooting then before.

"I'm going to see what's going on! Stay here!" He went into the kitchen and stood

against the wall.

He slowly turned to peek out the window and was surprised to see fireworks. He

walked over to his family ashamed of how he acted. "I'm sorry. I need help." His wife

stood up and gave him a hug.

"We'll be with you all the way." The kids hugged him too.

"We want our daddy back."

"Don't worry kids. I'll do anything for my family."

"Do it for yourself too Abraham."

"I will. It's about time I kick this in the ass."

"Abraham. The kids." She laughed and then gave him a kiss.

"Yeah daddy. Watch your language."

"Oh yeah?" He picked them both up and spun them around. "I love you," Abraham said.

"We love you too." Unfortunately he only got a weeks worth of therapy due to the

apocalypse starting. Sasha was working late today due to a last minute emergency call at

the fire station. She was nervous though because she was always so exhausted by the end

of the day and since she couldn't go home yet she wondered if she would be at the top of

her game. Sasha ran into the house. There were two kids. One was in a room where the

fire had spread to and was approachable, but the other room was where the fire had

started and was getting worse by the minute. Both girls were yelling for help. She went

for the room that was worse off first. "I'm coming to help you!" She felt the door knob. It

was cool to the touch. "Lay down on the floor! I'm going to come in!"

She ran in and the girl was on the floor and engulfed in smoke. Sasha

cradled her in her arms. "It's going to be ok." She ran outside and handed her to her

mom.

"Thank god you're alright!" She started crying. "Where's Kelly?"

"Don't worry. I'm going back in for her." She ran inside and ran for the door, but the

room exploded and she flew backwards.

She knew she had to get out of there. She stumbled out

the door and took off her uniform, trying to cool off and get some fresh air into her lungs

and in the process she started coughing. An ambulance was already there and the mother

and her daughter were inside. And there was another ambulance. They helped her on top

of a stretcher. They tried to lay her down, but she didn't want to. They put an oxygen

mask on her. "How's the little girl."

"She's going to be ok. She's with her mother in the ambulance. She's waiting for word

on her other daughter.

"I don't know what I'm going to tell her." The mother over heard and ran up to Sasha.

"What do you mean? Where's Kelly!"

"I … I'm so sorry," she said, trying not to cry.

"No! No! You have to go back in!"

"No. you can't. It's too late. The whole place is engulfed in flames," the EMT said. "I'm

sorry mamm." She looked at Sasha.

"Why didn't you save both of them!"

"I thought I had more time. One room wasn't as bad as the other so I went for the bad one

first. It must have been worse then I thought. I really thought I could make it back in

time."

"Well you didn't did you! And now my little girl is dead!" She fell to her knees crying.

Sasha went to comfort her, but the EMT stopped her. He shook his head and said I'm

sorry, but I think it would be best if someone else comforted her. He put a hand on her

shoulder then went to comfort the grieving mom. He helped the mom into the ambulance

and then went back to Sasha.

"You should go to the hospital and get yourself checked out."

"No. I'm fine. The mother will never be the same again. She's the one who will need

help. Her and her daughter. She lost her sister and it's my fault."

"You're going to need help too."

"I told you I'm fine."

"That's not what I meant. Get some rest." She waited for the ambulance to leave before

she drove home.

When she closed the door behind her she broke down and sat up against the

door, crying. Tyrese ran down the stairs when he heard her. He sat down next to her and

put an arm around her shoulder and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Talk to me. What happened?"

"I couldn't save her."

"Who?"

"The little girl. The mother was right. I should have been able to save them both. I went

for the room that was worse off first, thinking I'd have time, but by the time I got to the

other room it was too late. It's my fault."

"You did what you thought was best. That's all you could do in these situations. It wasn't

your fault."

"Tell that to the mother and the sister."

"She's angry, so she took it out on you. One day she'll wake up and realize that it wasn't

your fault and you saved her daughter. You'll receive that phone call one day."

"I hope so. Thank you Tyrese."

"Anytime." It was Tara's first day at the academy and she was late. She ran in in the

middle of the speech that was being given by the captain to the others who were all lined

up.

"I hope this isn't a sign of things to come."

"No sir no. I'm sorry sir."

"Then get in line Ms.?"

"Tara. Tara Chambler."

"We'll have to see if there's someone who can fill you in on my speech.

"I'll do the job sir," the man next to her said, smiling at her.

"Fine. You then." At the end of the speech he sat down next to Tara to join her for some

coffee.

"So you're here to fill me in?"

"Yeah."

"Ok then shoot. Pun intended."

"Hi. My name is Jason."

"Nice to meet you Jason." She gave him a hand shake.

"So do you have a boyfriend?"

"I thought you were supposed to be filling me in on the part of the speech I missed."

"Yeah, but you never know. We just might become partners in the future and I want to

know more about my partner just in case we become more then partners."

"Yeah. Well for one thing we should keep it strictly professional, especially in this job.

For another thing I'm not interested. And the third and final thing. Speaking of partners.

I'm a lesbian."

"Why are the good ones always taken or a lesbian?"

"Thanks. I think."

"So are we good?"

"Yeah. We're good." She gave him a fist bump.

"Do you have any friends?"

"I might have a sister, but first you fill me in on that speech and about you then maybe

I'll fill you in about my sister and if you're her type. Deal?

"Deal." He put his fist up and she smiled and gave him a fist bump. Jessie, Sam, and Ron

were sitting on the couch watching a movie and eating cookies when Pete walked in and

slammed the door, making them all jump. She quickly turned off the TV.

"Having fun again while I'm suffering at work?" She got off the couch.

"You won't let us have any when you're here." He slapped her across the face and then

grabbed her hair and pulled her to the couch and pushed her down onto it next to Sam and

Ron. She held them in her arms.

"Oh how sweet. It's too bad I can't be a part of this family."

"You could be if you would stop drinking. Then you wouldn't treat us like this anymore."

"The drinking calms me down. If I weren't drinking I'd be more stressed because I would

be sober enough to remember what a sorry excuse for a family I have. And what is this!

Cookies! And let me guess. If I didn't come home all the cookies would be gone and you

wouldn't have saved me any." He picked up the plate and threw it against the wall.

"Clean that up! I'm going upstairs."

"I'm going to clean this up. Take your brother upstairs Ron and lock yourselves in your

room."

"Yes mom. Come on Sam."

"Mom. I love you."

"I love you too Sam. I love you Ron."

"I love you too mom." Ron and Sam went upstairs. They fell asleep in Ron's room and

Jessie slept on the couch because Pete didn't want her in the bed with him. Ron woke up

hungry. Ron tried to be quiet, but Pete was up because he had to go to the bathroom, so

he heard Ron's door open. He ran to the door and opened it. He saw Ron running toward

the stairs and chased after him. Jessie ran up the stairs to grab Ron, but Pete beat her to it

and grabbed Ron and then pushed him down the stairs. Jessie grabbed him on his way

down, but Ron threw her off balance and they fell the rest of the way down the stairs.

Pete turned around and went for Sam, who was standing in the doorway. He closed the

door and locked it.

"Open the door!" He pounded on it. Sam jumped on the bed, put a pillow over his head,

and then started crying.

"To hell with you! To hell with all of you!" He slammed the door.

Jessie and Ron were lying at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ron are you ok?"

"No. I think I broke my arm. Check on Sam. Make sure he's ok." She reluctantly went to

Sam.

"Sam it's mom. Open the door." He ran to the door.

"Mom!" He ran into her arms.

"It's ok. He's in his room for now."

"Ron!" He ran to Ron.

"I'm ok Sam. I just broke my arm."

"We have to take you to the hospital," Jessie said.

"No! We can't! You know how he is when he hurts us! If he sees me in a cast … No I

can't go. Its not worth him hurting one or both of you. It well take longer to heal and it

will never be the same, but it's better this way." Jessie helped him up and took him to his

bed. They all slept in the same room that night. Mike had Terry and some other friends

over to watch some football. Michonne expected this. It happened every weekend. His

friends would come over and get route and Michonne would always have to come out

and remind them that Andre was asleep, but it always seemed to go out the other ear. She

would always make them some appetizers. This time was the last straw though.

"Mike can you and your friends keep it down this time?"

"I'll try, but we're men who love football."

"The question is do you love us more then you love football?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I love football more." She hit him hard on the

arm. "Ow! I forgot how strong you are."

"Stop being a smart ass then I won't have to show you how strong I am again." He went

to give her a kiss, but she put her hand on his chest.

"Well if you mean it then there shouldn't be a problem." The door bell rang.

"Hey Terry. Hey guys. You ready for some football."

"Yeah!" They all said at once and Michonne rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

She knew right away that tonight wasn't going to be any different.

"What? You're not going to say hi," Terry said. She raised her hand up as she walked

away.

"Hey! Where are you going? You need to make our appetizers!" One of the friends said

and she stuck her middle finger up, still walking away.

"Are you in the dog house?" Terry asked.

"Yeah. We have to stay quiet this time."

"Whatever you say," Terry said, and they all laughed. Then Terry held up a little baggie

with marijuana in it.

"No! Michonne said to keep it down and this wont help."

"Oh come on. One joint won't hurt."

"Fine. Just one." One became two. Then two became three, four, and five. Michonne was

in her room with her headphones on, listening to some music so she could drown out the

noise she was sure they were making and then she smelled it.

She stormed into the room and they were laughing hysterically.

"Get the hell out! All of you!" They started laughing even harder.

"Your in real trouble now aren't you Mike." They all laughed.

"Did you hear me? Out!" Mike got up from the couch, stumbled up to Michonne, and

whispered your going to wake Andre Michonne. "You're kidding right?"

"You're the one who's yelling," Mike said.

"That's because I'm sick of your bullshit," she said, with gritted teeth. Now get your

lowlife friends out of here before I do it for you."

"Fine. You heard her. Time to go."

"If I were you I would dump her ass!" He said making sure she could hear him. They all

laughed and then they stopped suddenly when they saw her approaching them. She was

fuming now.

"Out!" She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to the open door as the others went

running out.

"Crazy bitch!" One of them said a little too loud.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah. That's what I thought. And don't come back!" She slammed the door behind her

and Andre started crying. She gave Mike a look.

"You slammed the door."

"I'm not done with you." He started laughing. She knew it was the marijuana, but she

was still pissed off. She came back and he was still laughing.

"What the hell is wrong with you," she said, between gritted teeth. I knew you would be

loud but this. If I could smell it then it means he could too."

"They said come on. Just one wont hurt. I was only going to smoke one, but I saw the

others and I wanted to join in."

"Don't you dare blame this on pier pressure. You're not a teenager you're a grown man

who is capable of making his own decisions without the influence of his dumbass

friends."

"They didn't mean what they said. It was the marijuana talking."

"For you, but not your friends. They were like this before the marijuana. They were just

using me for making appetizers, but I let it go for you."

"I have a major headache right now and I don't feel like arguing anymore, so I'm going

to bed, Mike said.

"Fine. Maybe in the morning you'll have a clear enough head to realize what an asshole

you were being."

"Whatever." She knew he would be himself again in the morning and that she would

forgive him until next time, but the thing is next time would be too late for her son. Beth

loved baking pies and she always baked the best ones. Maggie saw how happy it made

her, so she wanted to try it for herself. When she finally got it in the oven she was

covered in flour and exhausted. Maggie snuck in that morning. She was home from

collage and wanted to surprise everyone, so she thought why not bake a pie and they can

wake up to the smell of a pie and their daughter being home from collage. Not only was

she exhausted from the pie making, but she barely got any sleep on the airplane after

waking up at one in the morning to catch the flight back home. Beth always made it look

so easy. Maggie plopped down onto the couch, laid down, and then fell asleep. The

fire alarm went off and she sat up.

"The pie!" The house was filled with smoke. She ran to the kitchen, coughing with her

hand over her mouth. Beth, Hershel, and her step mom came running into the kitchen.

They were all coughing. "There's a fire in the oven!" Maggie yelled. Hershel grabbed the

fire extinguisher.

"You open the door Maggie and I'll put it out!" The neighbor called 9-1-1 when she

could see the smoke filled house from her window. Her step mom fanned the fire alarm

with a towel and Beth opened the door and the windows. They gave her a hug.

"Welcome home Maggie, but what happened?" Hershel asked.

"I wanted … to surprise you with … a pie," she said, coughing in between talking. "I fell

asleep while it was baking and thank you. I'm happy to be home. I always see Beth do it

and I wanted do something special for all of you." They gave her another hug and said

thank you again. "Let me get this disaster out of the oven," Maggie said, just as the

firemen walked in. She turned around and was holding the pie.

They had a shocked expression on their faces.

"Pie?" It was quiet then they all burst out laughing. "I'm so sorry I got you out

here for nothing, so if your not too busy I would love to bake you a pie, but don't worry.

The pie only burned because I fell asleep."

"We could come back during our break."

"Good."

"If we all help it well be ready in no time," Beth said.

"Thank you, but if it's ok I would like to finish what I started."

"So this time you'll burn the house down," Beth laughed.

"Ha ha. Very funny." She smiled at Beth. "It will be ready and waiting for you."

"That sounds great. Thank you." Later that day they came back and the house was

cleared of smoke and was filled with the smell of apple pie.

"Please make your selves at home." They sat down at the table.

"This pie is amazing."

"Thank you."

"You should come back for one of Beth's pies sometime," Hershel said.

"Yeah. I'll burn another pie so you can come back." They all laughed. "Thank you for

your service. Maggie said.

"Thank you for burning the pie or we wouldn't be here now eating your good one." The

other firemen agreed.

"You're welcome." Glenn loved delivering pizza. He loved making people happy. He and his two sisters were still living with their parents, so he was happy to give whatever money he earned to them even though they insisted on him keeping it. He was able to get free pizza everyday and would sneak some home to his family. He was taking a shortcut down the alley to his customer's house. This delivery

was different though. His bike had a tall and wide basket on the back of his bike with five

large pizzas in it. This plus the deliveries for the rest of the day will earn him more

money then he's ever received at his job and was looking forward to surprising them with

it. He was halfway down the alley when a dog pops out from behind the garbage bin. He

wasn't wild but he was hungry, so Glenn decided that the dog was hungrier then the

customer. He knew his boss wouldn't be very happy. He carefully approached the dog.

"Hey boy or girl. You hungry?" It was a black lab. The dog was wagging his tail and Glenn knelt down and pet the dog's head. Then the dog knocked him off balance and Glenn fell over and the dog started licking him. "Ok! Ok! I'll give you a slice!" He gently pushed the dog aside and got up. He took a slice from the box and the dog stood on his hind legs and put his paws on Glenn's shoulders. Glenn laughed and almost fell backwards. "Lets see if you can sit. Sit!" He sat with his tail wagging a mile a minute. "Alright! Good dog!" He gave the dog a slice and he scarfed it down. Glenn petted him again and the dog barked. "Fine. Just one more then the rest is going to my family because I'm sure I'm not going to get my free pizza today or today's pay because I have to make up for the pizza that I gave to a stray dog." He was now left with the task of showing up with only four pizzas and confronting his boss. "Wish me luck buddy." He jumped back on his bike and rode off. He looked behind him and the dog was still sitting. He decided he would call him Buddy. He was nervous when he got to the doorstep. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Hi. I'm so sorry to tell you this but I saw a stray black lab and he was hungry, so I gave him a couple slices of pizza, so these four pizzas are free and I could go back to my boss and tell him what happened and I can bring you back a fifth one which will be free too."

"Thank you for that, but we understand. We have two yellow labs and would have done

the same thing so I see no reason to punish you for doing some good for a lab in need and

I'm going to pay you anyway."

"What? No. I couldn't."

"Please. You deserve it. You're a good person."

"Thank you." Glenn gave him a hug.

"You're welcome."

"I will get that pizza now."

"No. It's ok. The fifth pizza is only because we like to have leftovers."

"Thank you again."

"Hey! What's your name?"

"Glenn."

"I'm going to ask for you from now on Glenn."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome and see you next time."

"See you." He was so happy. He's still coming back with the money from these pizzas

even if not the others. He was still nervous about his boss. He went back to work and

told his boss about the stray dog. He was not as understanding.

"I'll let it go because the customers were ok with it, but don't you ever do it again. You

are lucky I'm not firing you. You are lucky the customer didn't ask me to fire you. Don't

think that they'll be anyone else like that. It was only because they have two Labradors."

"Yes sir."

"One last thing. I hope you know that you're not going to get paid for those other pizzas."

"Yeah. I know."

"We have to use that money to pay for the pizza you gave away. And no free pizza

today." He smiled to himself knowing that his family was going to get some still.

"Yes sir. I understand."

"Good. You can go now."

"Yes sir." He wanted to see if Buddy was still there. He rode through the alley. "Buddy

are you still here?" He jumped out in front of Glenn and caught him by surprise. He fell

off his bike and it fell on top of him.

Buddy took a wheel in his mouth and pulled the bike off

him, but his teeth punctured the tire. "Thank you Buddy." He laughed when Buddy

started licking him after he sat up.

"Oh no! My tire." Buddy could tell he was upset and sat there

and cocked his head to the side. "It's ok Buddy. It wasn't your fault. You were trying to

help." He pet Buddy and Buddy got up to lick his face and he was wagging his tail.

"Thank you Buddy. Well it looks like I'm going to have to walk my bike home." He

knelt down.

"Buddy how would you like to come home with me?" He barked and started licking him.

"Alright alright! I'll take that as a yes. Ok. Lets go home Buddy." When he got home he

asked Buddy to sit and stay. He would call him in when he was ready for him. He pets his

head. "Good Buddy." He walked in and he was surrounded by his family who was clearly

worried about him. They gave him a hug.

"What happened?" His dad asked.

"Are you ok?" His mom asked.

"Why are you so late?" His sisters asked.

"Whoa! One at a time. I'm ok. And what happened was …" He explained the whole

thing.

"That boss of yours sounds like a nightmare," his mom said.

"I'm sorry I worried you."

"What happened to Buddy?" One of the sisters asked.

"Is he going to be ok?" The other one asked.

"More then ok." He went to the door to open it. "Meet the family Buddy." He ran into the

house, jumped onto one of the sisters, and started licking her. She started laughing.

"Stop it Buddy!"

"Buddy! Come here Buddy!" Glenn said. He ran to Glenn and sat down next to him.

They all came over to pet him.

"Can we keep him please?" The sisters asked.

"Absolutely," their mom said.

"You hear that Buddy? You have a home." Buddy barked.

"What are you going to do about your bike?" His parents asked.

"I'll have to fix the tire."

"You don't need to," his mom said.

"Why?"

"After hearing what you went through today we thought you could use an early birthday

present," his dad said. "Follow us." Glenn followed them outside and to the garage. The

Garage door opened and there was a red motorbike.

"This is perfect! Thank you!" He hugged his parents. Then he hugged Buddy. "Today

might have started out bad, but it ended perfectly."

Ezekiel loved his job at the zoo, but he was

terrified of going into the enclosure of the new arrival Shiva the tiger during feeding time.

For safety the tiger would be put in a secure place in the enclosure while Ezekiel put

down the food and water. He had been in there a couple times already, but was still

terrified even with the safety precautions taken. He bent down to put the food and water

in its place when he heard something. It was the enclosures safety doors opening. The

doors working mechanism malfunctioned. He froze in place as the tiger approached him.

Ok. She's going to start eating and then you could sneak away he thought to himself, but

she didn't. Instead, Ezekiel saw a paw coming toward his face. He was about to call out

for help and closed his eyes waiting to be attacked, but didn't feel anything but his

dreadlocks being pulled on. He heard purring. He slowly opened his eyes to see Shiva

swatting at his dreadlocks and bringing them to her mouth to chew on. Now he didn't

know what to do. He didn't want to make her angry by moving away, so he waited

patiently while she played with his dreads, trying to stay as still and quiet as possible.

Finally after what felt like forever, she got bored and started working on her food. He

slowly got up and walked away. When he was safe he took a deep breath that he felt like

he was holding in the whole time. He vowed to himself that he would never step foot in

there again or so he thought until the day that he would have to go in there to save her

life. Aaron was doing some humanitarian work when he saw Eric and it was love at first

sight, but he didn't know if he was gay and he wasn't sure how to approach him about it

without being awkward. Then he came up with an idea. He walked up to Eric and was

trying not to loose his cool. He looked even better close up. Eric was staring down at a

clipboard. "Hello. I'm Aaron." Eric looked up at him and lost his words. He also got lost

in his big blue eyes.

It was love at first sight for him too and he also needed to find out if he

was gay. He came up with the same idea too.

"Hi. I'm Eric."

"It's cold this morning," Aaron said.

"Yeah. We have some coffee inside the tent and it's a little warmer in there."

"That sounds great. Thanks." They sat down at a table in the tent. "How long have you

been doing this Eric?

"About two years. You?"

"Me too."

"I'm surprised I haven't seen you," Eric said. I couldn't miss a face like that, he said to

himself.

"Maybe we just missed each other," Aaron said.

"Yeah. I guess so. Can I ask you a strange question?" Eric asked.

"Sure."

"Can you give me some dating advice?" Eric caught Aaron by surprise because he was

going to ask him the same question. Could he have the same plan too? He shook the

thought out of his head.

"Uh … sure. I was actually going to ask you the same question."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Eric started laughing. "That's a coincidence."

"Yeah. That's what I was thinking, Aaron said. We must have pretty bad love lives,"

Aaron said. They laughed.

"Can I ask you another strange question?"

"Sure."

"Who is your type?" Aaron couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was doing the same

thing. He wants to know if I'm gay too. He decided to go along with it because he wanted

to see this through to the end. He smiled.

"My type has blue eyes and red hair."

"Can I ask you the same strange question?" Eric asked, smiling.

"Sure."

"My type has big blue eyes and brown wavy hair. Not to mention a wonderful smile."

Aaron felt himself blushing and lowered his head so Eric wouldn't notice. They both

knew now for sure from the description of their types and Eric knew especially by the

way Aaron reacted. Eric put his hand on top of Aaron's and Aaron looked up. "One last

question Aaron?"

"Yes please." Aaron couldn't wait for this one. He knew because it was his question too.

"Are you gay?" They both said at once. They both laughed and slowly moved in for their

first kiss. It was slow and sweet and they broke apart all smiles.

"That was amazing," Aaron said.

"Yes. It was."

"As soon as I saw you I had to know, so I came up with the three questions just in case

you weren't so it wouldn't seem so obvious," Eric said. "When I looked up from my

clipboard I couldn't speak because you were so cute."

"When you asked me the same question I was going to ask you I thought you might be

doing the same thing I was doing," Aaron said.

"You were right. I was. I needed to know too," Eric said. "And I can't believe we read

each other's mind already," Eric said.

"I knew for sure when you wanted to know what my type was Eric."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I wanted to see this through all the way to the end."

"I'm glad you did. Especially because I got to see you blush." They laughed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"Well I did and I think it's cute." Aaron smiled. "It also gave you away and told me for

sure that you were thinking the same thing I was." They kissed again.

It was Morgan's birthday and he woke up in his bed to a kiss on the lips.

"Good morning birthday boy." He smiled and kissed her back.

"Good morning."

"Are you ready for your birthday present?"

"You bet I am."

They made love and then headed downstairs. Dwayne ran up to his dad and gave

him a hug.

"Happy birthday dad."

"Thank you Dwayne." They got ready for work and school. Morgan gave his son and

wife a kiss goodbye and headed for work.

Morgan walked into a dark house except for the three

candles coming from the birthday cake that was on the dining room table, giving off just

enough light to see his wife and son. They started singing. "Make a wish" they both said

at once. He closed his eyes and then blew out the candles. They clapped and cheered.

"What did you wish for dad?"

"If I say then it won't come true." He wished that he and his family would always be as

happy as they are now. "Thank you." He gave them a hug. His wife made the best cakes

and this one was his favorite. It was a chocolate cake with a coconut crème filling. There

was also a container of vanilla ice cream. Morgan cut the first piece of cake and gave it to

his son.

"Thanks dad." Then he gave the second piece to his wife.

"Thank you honey. I want to cut you a piece." She cut the cake, put it on a plate, and took

it to Morgan, who was sitting across from her. "Let me know what you think." She

smashed the cake in his face and Dwayne started laughing.

"Mom got you good dad!" He licked his lips.

"This is very good honey, but …" he picked up her slice of cake.

"No don't!" She yelled. Morgan smashed it in her face and Dwayne started laughing

again.

"It looks better on you," Morgan said and then ran his finger down her face. "Tastes

better too." She did the same.

"Your right. It is good, but it tastes better on you too." They laughed and then went in for

a cake kiss. They had their eyes closed, so Dwayne took advantage and took the ice

cream scoop, scooped up a large scoop of ice cream, and flung it at them.

scoop, scooped up a large scoop of ice cream, and flung it at them. They started laughing.

Then they both looked at Dwayne with smirks on their faces.

"No don't!" They grabbed some cake with their hands and threw it at Dwayne. He licked

his lips. "You did it again mom. This is so good."

"Thanks, but don't think your going to get out of this one."

"Yeah. I think you need some ice cream to go with that," Morgan said.

"Yeah. I agree," Jenny said. Morgan took the scoop and hit Dwayne in the face with a

large scoop of ice cream.

"That's cold. Literally," Dwayne said. Your cake is ruined mom."

"I know, but I can make another one and in the mean while …" The three of them

exchanged looks and then they were throwing ice cream and cake at each other until they

were covered. Morgan grabbed Jenny and forced her into a hug. She started laughing.

"Get over here Dwayne," Morgan said.

"I don't think so." He laughed. They both gave him the parent look. "Fine." He walked

toward them and they pulled him into a hug. "You guys are so gross!"

"I think we all need a good shower," Morgan laughed.

"That's the second part of your birthday present," she said, with a smirk.

"I can't wait."

"Again gross!" Dwayne said. They started laughing.

"How did I get so lucky with you two," Morgan said.

"We're the lucky ones."

"Yes we are," Dwayne said. Philip hated going to work. He wasn't looking forward to

taking orders from someone who was younger then him, but at least he had his family

waiting for him at home.

"Philip!"

"Yes sir."

"My secretary is out sick, so you will be taking her place and don't think this means that

you can slack off on your days work."

"No sir."

"Good. Why don't you start by getting me a cup of coffee?"

"Yes sir."

"And then you can answer my phone calls and report them back to me and I'll tell you

who to cancel, keep, or reschedule. Then you could send out a couple faxes." He put a

stack of files in front of him. "Then you can put these files in alphabetical order. Only

when you're done with that can you start your day."

"But sir I will never get home."

"Not my problem, so get a move on."

"Yes sir." He smiled and turned away, gritting his teeth so he wouldn't cuss him out.

Finally he was done and it was eleven at night and he was trying not to fall asleep behind

the wheel. When he got home the TV was on and his wife and daughter Penny were

asleep on the couch. Penny was lying on her mom's lap. He turned off the TV and picked

up Penny and gave her a kiss on the forehead before taking her upstairs. He tucked her in,

kissed her on the forehead again, and she opened her eyes.

"Daddy!" She sat up and gave him a hug. "I missed you daddy. I tried to stay up, but I

guess I couldn't."

"I missed you too and that's ok. It was way past your bedtime."

"What took you so long? Were you saving the day?"

"Yeah. You could say that."

"My daddy the hero."

"I would like to think so. Now lay back and I'll tuck you in again." She laid back and he

tucked her in.

"I love you daddy."

"I love you too Penny." He kissed her on the cheek then brushed her hair back.

"Goodnight honey."

"Goodnight daddy." He went back down stairs and sat down next to his wife. He held her

hand and then she woke up.

"Hi. You're finally home. Penny tried to stay up, but she fell asleep."

"I know. I put her to bed." She looked down on her lap. She was so exhausted she didn't

even realize she was gone.

"Thank you." She gave him a kiss. "What happened?"

"My boss. If he weren't my boss I swear I would have punched him square in the jaw."

She laughed.

"That bad?"

"And then some."

"I'm sorry Philip."

"The secretary was absent today, so he had me do her work and then still do mine."

"Hopefully she'll be back tomorrow," she said.

"I hope so. I can't do that again. I love you," Philip said.

"I love you too." He kissed her and they made love on the couch. Negan was playing

ping pong with the wall in the garage.

"I wish you wouldn't spend so much time in there."

"It helps me relax."

"Relax?" She laughed. "That's why when you're playing with someone and you loose

you cuss up a storm?"

"Yeah yeah. I know. That's why I don't play with you anymore," Negan said.

"Oh Yeah? So you're admitting that I always win."

"Yeah. Basically."

"It's about time," she said. He threw down his ping pong paddle. She laughed as he

chased her around the lawn.

"Stop stop! I surrender."

"Got you!" He grabbed her from around the waist, picked her up, and spun her around.

She laughed and yelled at the same time. Then Negan tripped and fell on his back, still

holding her. They both laughed and they kissed.

"Actually I got you. I knew I could get you away from that thing."

"Why you little …" They started kissing, but were interrupted when the sprinklers

started. They started laughing again.

"We need to get that thing fixed," she said.

"I think I like it better broken," he said. She laughed and then they made out until the

sprinklers turned off.


End file.
